Leaf from a Psalter with Full Border with Medallions (Annunciation, SS. Jerome, Clare, Sebastian and Bernardino) and Historiated Initial (E): Virgin and Child

This leaf contains Psalm 67. The original full manuscript would have held all 150 psalms. Psalters like this were made in a large format for communal prayer. This leaf is richly adorned with an elaborate border with a historiated, or decorated, initial E showing the Madonna and Child. Around the border are Saint Jerome, Saint Clair, Saint Sebastian, and Saint Bernardino, a popular and much-venerated preacher from Siena, Italy. The bottom medallion depicts the Annunciation, or announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She is shown seated, reading from a book of hours.